The unlikely pairing of Toni Lodge and Ryan Jon has proven fruitful this week after the duo’s podcast hit a major seven-figure milestone, becoming one of a handful of independent Australian podcasts to reach one million downloads in two months.
The pair met at ARN, where Jon now hosts workdays on KIIS FM Melbourne after an extended break from breakfast radio and Lodge was, until recently, a producer for the station’s former breakfast show with Jase & PJ.
Following three “awkwardly long” years of early starts, she made the decision to quit and have a solid crack behind the microphone.
Lodge and Jon, who refer to each other as “just good friends”, launched the podcast on August 23 with an episode titled ‘T-Pain and Tinder Bios’ after a series of videos recorded after hours in the KIIS FM Richmond studios went viral on TikTok and Instagram with almost 100 million views.
The podcast was quickly snapped up by ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network Australia and, surprising even themselves, climbed official podcast charts in Australia and abroad – including Top 5 on Spotify’s Overall Chart and Top 5 on Apple Podcasts’ coveted Comedy Chart – making it a bonafide breakout smash and the surprise hit Aussie podcast of the year.
Each week Lodge & Ryan deliver their take on almost everything – the good, the bad, and the awkward – to hundreds of thousands of listeners from around the world who have discovered the podcast and fallen head over heels for their comedic chemistry and awkward encounters.
To ensure they could keep the podcast going, and continue to fund the production, Toni & Ryan launched a community for diehards on Patreon at the suggestion of a fan, where they “regrettably” committed to devouring one nugget for every one subscriber that joined in October.
Now podcasting’s new power couple is preparing to eat 721 chicken nuggets via a Facebook ‘NUG of WAR’ livestream at 11:30 am AEST this Sunday, November 7.
Lodge said: “The journey with this podcast has already been so lifechanging – especially after spending such a long time producing other shows and podcasts, and now having my own podcast that has taken off so quickly.
“I never thought I’d have a job where a day at the office consisted of eating so many nuggets, but my body is ready!”
Jon said: “It’s the strangest feeling to be annoyed and scared that too many people have paid up to subscribe to the podcast.
“It’s a great compliment too, but attaching our Patreon subscriptions to a food challenge may live to be one of my biggest regrets.”
Their podcast is available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio App, or wherever you get your podcasts from.
